This guide is designed to assist adult educators who are also first-time practitioner-researchers. It is organized in three parts. Part 1 is an introduction to practitioner research. The following steps of designing and conducting a research project are examined in a section on strategies and methods: identify a research question, collect data, analyze data, summarize analysis findings, share your findings. Suggestions for dealing with problems in conducting or writing up the research project are outlined. The third section presents the case studies of five members of the Virginia Adult Educators Research Network who have conducted their own research projects. Each case study is preceded by background on the researcher and her project and includes a summary of the individual researcher's project along with comments, cautions, and words of encouragement. Appended are a description of the ERIC system, a suggested outline for writing up a research study, and a list of seven network resources. Contains 17 references. (MN)